New Japan MMA Promotion!

recently.reaped · 02-13-2008

Quote:

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that a press conference was held Wednesday at the Hotel Metropolitan in Tokyo to formally announce the formation of a new promotion featuring the former staff of PRIDE working in conjunction with FEG/K-1.

The name of the new promotion is expected to be "Dreams," although no mention of the promotion's name is mentioned in Meltzer's report.

It is believed that "Dreams" will feature the former staff of PRIDE running live event production with the K-1 staff handling television production and many key business deals.

As a result of the new promotion, K-1 HERO's is being discontinued.

The first show for the promotion is scheduled for March 15 at the Saitama Super Arena and will feature the first rounds of lightweight and middleweight tournaments intended to crown champions in both weight classes. A single bout to decide the new heavyweight champion is expected to take place as well.

One fighter expected to be involved in the heavyweight title match is none other than Mirko Cro Cop. According to Meltzer, Cro Cop appeared at the press conference and has officially been released from his UFC contract.

The only match officially announced for the show is a lightweight bout featuring Gesias "JZ Calvan" Calvancante taking on Shinya Aoki, which is a fight that had originally been slated to take place on the Yarennoka! card that was held on December 31.

In addition to Cro Cop, other fighters reported to be at the press conference that are expected to fight for the promotion are Kazushi Sakuraba, Masakatsu Funaki, Minowa-man, Kiyoshi Tamura, Kid Yamamoto, Caol Uno, Hayato Sakurai and Yoshihiro Akiyama.

A business deal with M-1 Global was also announced by the new promotion. As a result of the announcement, former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko is expected to compete for the promotion sometime in the future. However, it is unknown if M-1 Global's management agreed to the deal or if it was Emelianenko's management that has made the commitment.

Another fighter expected to be involved with the promotion is Royce Gracie, the winner of UFC 1 in 1993. Gracie addressed attendees via videotape but reportedly offered no indication as to when his first fight will be.

The PRIDE/HERO's collaboration has no known ties to the World Victory Road promotion, which is scheduled to hold its debut show in Japan on March 5.

Anyone ready for Pride part II?

personally I love it because I love the Grand Prix format.
What sux is that the UFC never signed all of the top talent from Pride and kind just stuffed their LHW division and signed a few others here and there.
now it may come back and bite them in the ass.

Jamie · 02-13-2008

Not to mention World Victory Road in Japan has signed guys like Takanori Gomi, Yoshida, Barnett. There first show is some time in March as well.

Not to mention Mirko has signed for dreams, a shame he's left the UFC but hopefully we'll see the Mirko of 2006.

MATT E · 02-13-2008

The thing is, as much as i loved pride, and as much as i would like to see Mirko compete there, I think the ufc is the place where he needs to be. And not that I think that Crocop was on roids, but for fighters in general, i would rather those who have already competed in Japan, fight in America where they drug test regularly. And wheres theres a great deal of opponents in which most pride fighters haven't faced.

way26 · 02-13-2008

Man this is really awesome news! And I'm with you, reaped, I love the grand prix format.

And man do they have a freaking lineup. They've got more LW talent than the UFC. Shinya, J.Z., Melendez, Dida, Ishida, etc, etc. And amongst others it looks like Sakuraba, Kang, Akiyama, Sakurai, Sergei, flippin Cro Cop! Not to mention all of the free agents still out there that could be picked up.

I wonder if they will be fighting under the PRIDE/Japanese rules. (stomps, soccer kicks, yadda yadda) Anyway, could be a lot of potential here. Hopefully they figure out a way to run things a little better than PRIDE did. If they do, this could be a pretty major org.

Robert_Lake · 02-14-2008

I had heard about this rumour a little bit ago, not that cro cop was signing with them but that the FEG and former Pride staff were fixing to start a new mma organization.

For me this is awesome. Immediately the Pride theme song comes into my head

. I have been missing PrideFC more than anyone. I own almost every single pride and bushido DVD and have been watching them to fill the void that the UFC just can not fill.

It's not that i dont like the UFC, i just dont like the people who run it. Dana White is hardly as in control as we thing and he makes us think (Dana owns under %10 of Zuffa. THe Fertitas own the other %90) but he runs his mouth like he is the god of MMA and without him MMA would be nowhere. Which is bullshit and shows you just how stupid Dana really is. Dana White, on his own has made alot of enemies in MMA. Tons of fighters won't work for him and he absolutely refusses to have open contracts. That, in itself, shows jsut how stupid the Fertitas are aswell by letting some kind of wierd bald nazi mongoloid be the face of their company.

Well guess what Dana, every fighters contract comes to an end eventually, and with the watered down talent pool they have in the UFC i cant see too many fighters sticking around to fight there. Especially if they can get paid more and get to fight higher calibre fighters elsewhere. Why do you think Randy left?

Anyways , lol, im so excited to see their first card. PrideFC shows were always amazing, and im talking just the show not the fights. K-1 kickboxing events have had some amazing shows and even the heroes events were cool. Combining the 2, with Prides style and showmanship and K-1's legit business people (not the Yakuza

) I see this being a success. That and i know for certain that i am notthe only one out there in my position, lol.

I really hope they work out a deal with m-1 so that Fedor can fight there. I am sure they already have.

As for the rules i am not sure. I dont think Heros allowed kicks to the head of downed opponents and neither did the Yarrenoka show, but you never know.

Matt, Cro Cop's only fights in the UFC were in the UK, where they also dont test for steroids, so i highly doubt that Mirko didnt do well because he wasnt on steroids.

Cheers

MATT E · 02-15-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert_Lake

Matt, Cro Cop's only fights in the UFC were in the UK, where they also dont test for steroids, so i highly doubt that Mirko didnt do well because he wasnt on steroids.

Cheers

No they infact due test in the U.K., im am 100% positive and if i can find the link i will show it to you as soon as possible. It wouldn't make sense for the UFC to hold an event for and for them no to drugtest. Thats like saying when we fight in the U.K. feel free to use steroids because we wont be holding drugtests? Doesn't make much sense...

And i said i don't think Crocop was on steroids, i would just have him fight here where all fighters are tested, making the competition 100 percent clean. And i dont think theres competition for him overseas, all top 10 HW, like Nogueira, Sylvia, AA,Werdum, and Gonzaga are here where he needs to be.

And Robert you say what you want about Dana and the UFC running a crap business. But then explain to me the reason why Pride collapsed? There was obviously something going on there deep within in which none of us know. As far as im concerned, being unbiest because i love mixed martial arts(no pride vs ufc debate), but as far as im concerned the UFC is still standing strong on there feet with most of the top fighters in the world.

And who is to say that the pride LW's are better then the UFC's at this point, i can recall Gomi coming to the U.S. and being tooled by a fighter(nick diaz) who was never even close to a championship in the ufc. As of mixed martial arts in general we just can't make judgement on fighters who haven't competed against others in different organizations.

Jamie · 02-15-2008

I haven't read through it but I can answer the testing in U.K question. We have no sanctioning body in the U.K so they don't have to test. But the UFC tests it's fighters when they come to the U.K to fight.

recently.reaped · 02-15-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie

I haven't read through it but I can answer the testing in U.K question. We have no sanctioning body in the U.K so they don't have to test. But the UFC tests it's fighters when they come to the U.K to fight.

I read that the UFC pays for the testing themselves for the UK events.

As for better fighters outside the UFC, I think the not so dominant results of former Pride fighters shows that the level in Pride and the UFC were comperable.

JamesBambridge · 02-16-2008

wow im excited about this and cant wait for their first show love the GP tournaments they are always great and the talent they have is exceptional.

does anyone know when M-1 global will hold their first show i know the Yarrenoka thing was with them but when will they do their own show??

Silat101 · 02-17-2008

Cant wait for their first card. It looks very solid.